Infectious Diseases

The greatest advance of the 20th century in medicine was to extend life expectancy with the introduction of public health measures to detect, control, and prevent infectious diseases. To that end, the infectious diseases program area covers a wide variety of disciplines to leverage all possible talents and perspectives. With so many factors to consider, everything from what pathogenic microorganism is causing harm to the societal interactions and restrictions that promote or deter the spread of such a disease, it is critical the program area be interdisciplinary. As such, faculty from a number of different departments, including food science, biological science, mathematics, entomology, comparative pathobiology, medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology actively guide this program area.